Informationsålderns djupa historia: föreläsning långt bort

Hade man varit i San Francisco hade man så klart svängt förbi Fort Mason för att lyssna på Alex Wright prata om informationsålderns djupa historia, utifrån hans bok "Glut: Mastering Information Throgh The Ages", som jag varit sugen på att läsa ett tag.

Från beskrivningen:

Journalist and information architect Wright delivers a fascinating tour of the many ways that humans have collected, organized and shared information for more than 100,000 years to show how the information age started long before microchips or movable type.

A self-described generalist who displays an easy familiarity with evolutionary biology and cultural anthropology as well as computer science and technology, Wright explores the many and varied roots of the Web, including how the structure of family relationships from Greek times, among others, has exerted a profound influence on the shape and structure of human information systems.

He discusses how the violent history of libraries is the best lesson in how hierarchical systems collapse and give rise to new systems, and how the new technology of the book introduced the notion of random access to information.

Som medlem i The Long Now Foundation kan man turligen nog se föreläsningar i efterhand, på nätet (och numera ladda hem).